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"Confession, Gateway to Forgiveness"- Part IV
I have found the three hardest words for me to say is "I HAVE SINNED". It’s much easier to say, "He has sinned, or she has sinned," than to say, "I have sinned." To be totally honest,I have also discovered that there is not a person in this room, including me that ought not come to God daily and say,“Oh God, I have sinned, I have sinned.”
We must face the realization that even though we are saved, we are still "bent to sin" and need to say over and over again "I have sinned." In the Bible we find 10 different individuals who came face to face with their sin, and their response was, "I have sinned."
Perhaps the most familiar who said “I have sinned” was David when he expressed those sobering words in II Samuel 12:13, "And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." David’s remorse and cry written over the agony of his sin is found in five penitential Psalms. Three of the well known penitential Psalms, are Psalm 28, 32, and 51. The background to David’s sin is found in I Samuel 11-12:
There was the ADULTERY with Bathsheba.
Then there was the COVER-UP of that sin.
Finally, there was the planned MURDER of Uriah.
David was a man after God’s own heart. But he wasn’t where he was supposed to be when it was time for kings to go forth to war. Instead, he was at home taking it easy. That’s where his backsliding began. He saw a woman he would never have seen, if he had been where he should have been.
Heed this warning folks, resist getting puffed-up by saying to yourself, “That was David’s sin, I could never do anything like that.” For in I Corinthians 10:12 the Bible says, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." We all have human flesh. You and I had better watch out. We are not immune. We are not exempt. If we put ourselves into the wrong circumstances, we are likely to find ourselves in sin. Remember Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 26:41, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
David in Psalm 51 was still grieving over his sin, notice verse 3 in which he says "My sin is ever before me." He was expressing guilt and grief over his sin. Please follow me as I read Psalm 51:1-13, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. (2) Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (3) For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. (4) Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. (5) Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (6) Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. (7) Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (8) Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. (9) Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. (10) Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (11) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (12) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. (13) Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.”
David KNEW the ugliness of sin.
David SAW the wickedness of sin.
David in the innermost of his soul FELT the pain of his sin.
His Joy was gone.
His Fellowship with God was gone.
His very Body ached in pain.
His Soul was out of sync and his spirit was downcast.
We can see that David KNEW the deadly nature of sin, as we continue to read Psalm 51:9-13. Do you know the deadly nature of sin, or has it become such a common thing in your life and minds that you excuse it instead of confessing it? It’s amazing how much fun sin appears to be before you get involved, and how empty it is once you have arrived!
Sin is the greatest of all detectives; be sure it will find you out.
Sin has a medium of exchange that trades in SORROW, DISILLUSION, and DEATH.
Sin and its pleasure are for a moment; its wages are for eternity.
James 1:15 puts it this way, "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
David had sinned through ADULTERY, its COVER-UP, and MURDER. His cry in verse 3 is"My Sin is ever before me." Perhaps you are crying out like David,“What shall I do with my sin?” Now, Psalm 51 should be tied with Psalm 32. Of the two,
Psalm 51 was probably written first, during the anguish of guilt under which David suffered.
Psalm 32 was written after the anguish, after his forgiveness had become a reality.
Turning to Psalm 32 we could say the theme of this chapter could be “Confession, the Gateway to Forgiveness” Notice Psalms 32:1-5.
David opens the Psalm in verses 1-2 with a shout of praise, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. (2) Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”
He then falls into a reflective mood on his sin in verses 3-5, “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. (4) For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. (5) I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”
For almost a year now, David has hid his sins and tried to avoid facing the consequences. During all this time David was scheming and trying to avoid God, his lips were locked in silence. You will notice, as long as he kept silent and refused to confess his sins, he was under the chastening hand of God.
Instead of strength, he had weakness; he was like an old man with broken bones.
Instead of enjoying freshness of life, he was dried up, weak, and without enthusiasm.
He was living in a perpetual drought instead of enjoying the showers of God’s blessing.
If you have fallen into the torments of a guilty conscience through sin, I urge you to STOP and CONFESS your sin to the Lord. In Proverbs 28:13 we read, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
David uses three different words in Psalm 32:1-2 to describe what he has done:
The word TRANSGRESSION means rebellion.
The word SIN means missing the mark.
The word INIQUITY means to be twisted or crooked.
David had rebelled against God and missed the mark because of the crookedness of his inward sinful nature that, unfortunately, we all have.
In verse 5 these same words are repeated with the added little word "my" or its equivalent, "MY SIN… MINE INIQUITY…MY TRANSGRESSION."David admitted to God that it was HE and HE alone who had sinned. Here you will notice David recognized that “Confession of sin precedes the forgiveness of sin.” Someone defined confession of sin as “our conscience telling our soul to ask God to forgive us of our sin.” Confession of our sin is the first step to forgiveness.
Now for the remainder of this message let me put some light on, “Confession, Gateway to Forgiveness.”
First: There is a THREE step process in confession of our sins. This three step process involves our soul which is made up of three parts.
The INTELLECT, what we think.
The EMOTION, what we feel.
The WILL, what we do.
Number 1: There is ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of our sin. Before we can be forgiven of our sin, we must acknowledge our sin.
Again in Psalm 32:5 we read, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.”
In Jeremiah 14:20 we read, “We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.”
Interestingly the word “Acknowledge” and the word “Confess” come from the same Hebrew word. In order to confess our sin, we must first ACKNOWLEDGE we have sinned. This is the intellectual part of our soul which says I have sinned, I acknowledge it.
Number 2: There is ADMISSION of our guilt. Acknowledgement of our sin does not necessarily mean that we have admitted our guilt. That is why the second step is important for admission occurs in our EMOTION, what we feel about our sin. Here we agree with God that we are guilty of what we have done. In I John 1:9 we read, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”The word, confess, means:
We LOOK at our sins in the same way God looks at them.
We THINK about our sins in the same way God thinks about them.
We FEEL about our sins in the same way God feels about them.
By confession we admit:
God I am guilty of using that bad language.
God I am guilty of losing my temper.
God I am guilty of gossip.
God I am guilty of ______________.
So in out intellect we ACKNOWLEDGE our sin, and in our emotion we ADMIT our sin.
Number 3: There is ASKING for forgiveness of our sin. This has to do with the will, what we do. Returning to Psalm 51, we discover:
Verses 1-3 David in his intellect ACKNOWLEDGED his sin.
Verses 4-6 David in his emotion gives ADMISSON of his sin.
Verses 7-12 David in his will begins ASKING forgiveness of his sin.
The three steps to confession are Acknowledge, Admit and Ask.
Second: There is an ingredient to this process which has two parts and leads directly to confession and forgiveness.
Number 1: There is the part we call HONESTY. In order to have real confession of sin you have to come clean with yourself. No doubt you have heard the expression, “Confession is good for the soul.” The soul needs to get honest with itself when it comes to confession of sin. We all have a depraved sinful nature. There is not a one of us listening to the sound of my voice that has not sinned this past week. Let me ask you a question without you raising your hands.
How many of you in the last 24 hours , or the last week or the last month in your walk with God have acknowledged a sin, admitted your guilt of that sin and asked for forgiveness of that sin either to God or to someone else?
Confession of sin is an ongoing responsibility of the Christian experience every day of our lives. If there is no confession of sin, then there is not likely to be spiritual growth or revival in the soul.
Number 2: There is the part we call HOLINESS. The greater the emphasis we place on the HOLINESS of God in our lives, the more we are going to see ourselves as sinners and recognize our need of confession. The more we see His HOLINESS and our unrighteousness, the more inclined we are to confess our sins and short comings. Maybe the reason you are not experiencing:
The blessing of God in your life, or
The power of God in your life, or even,
The answers to prayer in your life,
is because of so much UNCONFESSED sin in your life, because you haven’t been hanging around the HOLINESS of God.
If I am to begin to experience forgiveness in my life there must be an HONEST comparison of my life to the HOLINESS of God, an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of my sin, an ADMISSION of my guilt for that sin, and the ASKING of forgiveness for that sin.
Third: There is a three-fold purpose for confession. During our consideration of the “Mountain Peaks of Forgiveness,” we have been using this definition, "Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender by erasing their debt, and agreeing to live with the consequences of their sin." But before we accept or offer forgiveness, we need to consider the three purposes of confession.
Number 1: Confession leads to forgiveness. The only way a man can have forgiveness of sin is through confession. Would you notice again Psalm 32:3-4, “When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. (4) For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.” Please listen:
The way to WHOLENESS and PEACE in a man’s soul is not to COVER UP HIS SINS, but to CONFESS HIS SINS.
The way to really find FREEDOM in the soul is not to blame shift sin onto someone else, but to ACKNOWLEDGE your sin, to ADMIT your guilt and then to ASK for forgiveness.
You are living in a humanistic society today that is saying you need to cover up your sins. Society is saying if you have come from a dysfunctional family it’s your parents fault. You are just a victim of circumstances. Don’t worry; you are not responsible for your actions, your wrong doing, or your sins.
No my friends, if you accept the teachings of today’s society, that is when:
Your bones will wax old, and you will have physical problems.
You will have mental problems, “for thy hand was heavy upon me.”
You will have spiritual problems comprehending the grace of God.
As soon as you have a chance, read all of Psalm 38 to discover all the physical, mental and spiritual problems David faced as a result of covering up his sin. David was internally miserable.
I believe this is so very, very true; “Just maybe your problem is not your CHURCH, or your SCHOOL, or some FRIEND, PARENT, or FAMILY MEMBER, but it is some UNCONFESSED sin in your life.”
You will NOT be a very JOYFUL Christian with unconfessed sin.
You will NOT be a very HAPPY Christian with unconfessed sin.
You will NOT be a very BLESSED Christian with unconfessed sin.
Maybe you have come into the house of God this morning with a huge weight of unconfessed sin in your life, and you know it, as there is no peace in your soul. If that is true, you need to cry out as David did in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: (24) And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” David had finally recognized what his sin was doing to him and when he ACKNOWLEDGED his sin and ADMITTED his guilt and ASKED for forgiveness, then came peace in his soul.
Number 2: The second purpose of confession of sin is to bring us back into fellowship with God and with others. Please turn to Psalm 51 and focus with me on verses 7-11, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (8) Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. (9) Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. (10) Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (11) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (12) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. (13) Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” In a very real sense David was saying, “O God, I confess my sin so that I can have a restored fellowship with you.” Remember our definition, “Forgiveness is a CHOICE, to reconcile with an offender…” The whole purpose of forgiveness is to restore our fellowship with one another.
There has been too much RIFT, and STRIFE and DIVISION in the family of God over stupid things, not doctrine, but over insignificant things. And I believe it all goes back to our PRIDE of unconfessed sin and the bitterness of an unforgiving spirit.
Let’s just stop, right here and now, and once and for all, get this thing right with God and with others. God is not interested in your service, or in your money, or in your activities in the church, as much as He is interested in you confessing sins and getting right with one another.
Number 2: The third purpose of confession of sin is to enable us to push forward spiritually. In Proverbs 28:13 we read, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” The word “prosper” in the Hebrew means to “move forward.” My friends, if you are covering your sins, not confessing them, you will NOT be moving forward in your Christian experience.
Stop and ask yourself, “How are you doing in your walk with the Lord.” I don’t care how old you are in the Lord, unless you are growing and moving forward for the Lord there is a high probability you have some unconfessed sin in your life or some rift with another brother in Christ. Remember “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
As we draw this message to a close,
You need to understand that God not only forgives our sins, but He also removes them from us forever, In Psalm 103:12 we read, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
You need to understand the blood of Jesus Christ not only covers ours sins; it also cleanses our sins. In Ephesians 1:7 we read, "In Christ we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."
Through the wonderful and perfect transaction of Calvary, Jesus was made sin for us. Remember this “Forgiveness is not cheap, even though it is free, forgiveness came with a price tag,” Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, had to die for the sins of the world. It is on the basis of that one perfect sacrifice that God can meet the sinner at the cross and forgive his sins. Praise the Lord we can sing,
Calvary covers it all, My past with its sin and strain,
My Guilt and despair, Jesus took on Him there,
And Calvary covers it all!
Like a cool shower on a hot day, God’s forgiveness washes away not only our sins but also our tormenting guilt. The Lord went into the depths of David’s soul and provided that magnificent relief of PEACE only He can bring. God forgave completely, because David confessed completely.
If you are harboring some sin, if you are hiding a few secret wrongs, don’t expect to enjoy freedom from guilt. There is an unspoken axiom threaded throughout scripture, “SECRET SIN CANNOT COEXIST WITH INNER PEACE.
Few grinds are more galling than the grind of an unforgiven conscience, it is just awful!
On the other hand few joys are more relieving than having our sins forgiven, it is WONDERFUL.
God is so gracious! Though He prefers we do not sin, He will completely forgive and restore us, if we completely ACKNOWLEDGE our sin and ADMIT our guilt and ASK for forgiveness.
On the other hand, perhaps you are here this morning and you have never received, by faith, the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Christians everywhere will agree that you need to take heed to Romans 10:9-10, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
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If God has spoken to your heart after reading the sermon "Confession, Gateway to Forgiveness – Part IV" then right now talk to God about what He has spoken to you.
Do you have the assurance that one day you will go to heaven? If you have no assurance that you know Jesus Christ, then I trust you will decide to accept Him as your personal Savior. The Bible tells us in
Acts 16:31, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…”
Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
This prayer is here for those who need to ask Jesus to be their personal Savior: “I do want to go to Heaven. I know I am a sinner, and I do believe Jesus Christ died for me. I realize I cannot buy this great salvation, nor can I earn it. Knowing Jesus died on the cross and arose from the grave to pay my sin debt and to purchase my salvation, I do now trust Him as my Savior, and from this moment on I am completely depending on Him for my salvation.”
If you made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, would you please let me know? Please send me an e-mail to pdmikBBM@aol.com. and in return I will send you some literature that will help you in your Christian life.
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